


The lost gem was never far from the Garden

by MDnata



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Jotunn Loki (Marvel), Mimir's Well, Multi, Post-Thor: The Dark World, References to Norse Religion & Lore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:13:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29342619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MDnata/pseuds/MDnata
Summary: Odin basically gives Loki to Laufey to get rid of him and his antics. To Loki, of course, the arrangement is even worse than being imprisoned in Odin's grand, under-repair-basement. Until it isn't.
Relationships: Laufey & Loki (Marvel), Laufey/Loki (Marvel), Loki & Thor (Marvel)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t try to stall me for I was foretold  
> I am Loki, the Great Lier of old

  
It was supposed to be a joke. Albeit a lethal one, if things got out of hand – which they often did when he tried to do something – but a joke nonetheless.  
  
Thor was off saving the world (again) leaving Loki free to do as he liked. He was dead for all his brother knew. Had died in the other’s arms, in fact - it had been quite emotional for everyone involved.  
  
Okay, maybe not so much for one Miss Foster who took the whole death scene in with the appretiacion of a dead fish but hey, can’t please everyone.  
  
Loki was quite pleased with _himself_ anyway. Sure, Thor was a bit upset now, but later on, when their paths met again, he would be too damn happy to see Loki alive to be too angry about the whole death thing.  
  
Besides, it hadn’t been all acting on Loki’s part. Not that he’d ever admit it outloud, but for a moment he’d actually thought he was dying there in the hot, grey sand, cradled tightly in his brother’s arms, and what he’d said had in deed been quite genuine.  
  
He’d been so unbelievably cold, though.  
  
Never had he felt such a thing before in his life, not ever!  
  
It was like the very core of him had been slowly swallowed by a cover of frost. Not unlike the winds blowing through the hollowed dunes of snow back in Jotunheim.  
  
Although – he was loath to admit but he was by no means a fool – the coldness of Jotunheim hadn’t touched him like it had touched the others, hadn’t made him wiggle uncomfortably in his boots, hadn’t burned through his skin with the force of the nature’s deadliest frost bite.  
  
Oh, no.  
  
He’d only been angry.  
  
Angry at his brother for being such a fool. Angry at his brother’s brainless minions for being – well, brainless minions. Not to mention being angry at the quard who’d failed to do the one task he’d given him; telling on them to Odin _before_ they’d left.  
  
But he hadn’t been cold. No even when the jotunn soldier had grabbed his arm and destroyed the very image he’d had of himself while at it, even then the feeling of dread had been more urgent, the feeling of disgust, hate, fear.  
  
The soldier had died for his troubles, of course, but Loki still hadn’t felt cold. Volstagg had been bellowing in pain when he got grabbed but not Loki.  
  
No, Loki had almost felt warm.  
  
Yeah, that hadn’t been the case when his brother was holding him, though, when the spear of that brainless orc had been run neatly through him like he was the realms’ biggest olive. He’d been so unbelievably cold and the thought of death had actually been soothing for once. He’d been thinking that surely his next destination would be Niflheim.  
  
That had been fine, too.  
  
There was something in Niflheim, something of his. He didn’t quite know what, but he had this feeling that if only he could go there, if only he could _remember_ , then maybe dying would be worth it.  
  
Thor had been long gone when the sudden warmth returned to Loki’s still body, raging through his veins, forcing him awake and damn if he hadn’t known what was going on in a heart beat. He had been dying but he wasn’t anymore. Thanks to that frigging ice cube he still stored close at hand. He could feel the warmth like he’d felt it when the true colors of his skin had been shown to him. He remembered.  
  
Jotunheim, it seems, wasn’t quite that ready to let the little runaway runt go.  
  
The Casket of Ancient Winters.  
  
Why in the name of the nine did he still carry it with him?  
  
_Because it belongs to me._  
  
Well, there was that.  
  
_It’s my heritage. My_ -  
  
”My birthright”, Loki finished the thought outloud, voice bitter and heart aching. Sitting up was painful, standing up even more so. But he did so anyway, teeth ground together in agony as well as in anger. His birthright indeed. _Your birthright was to die! As a child. Cast out to a frozen rock._ The words of his dear father ringing in his ears he’d decided then and there to ignore what had happened altogether.  
  
He could do whatever the hell he wanted. Jotunheim, the Norns, whatever it was that had deemed him more useful dead or alive, damn them all.  
  
He was Loki!  
  
And he wanted to give the almighty All-father something to think about – he already had something in mind, too. He’d been thinking about it a lot during his stint in the golden cells of his former home.  
  
And for his mother’s sake – may she delight in the joys of Valhalla forever and after – he wouldn’t try to kill his father. He wasn’t in the mood for that, to be honest. For the old man, too, was still mourning the loss off his wife.  
  
But he wanted to do _something_.  
  
Something fun to drive away the thoughts of sorrow and loss. Something only Loki was able to do. As much as the All-father claimed to love him – or depending on the day, as much as he acted like he regretted his very existence - he had this tencency to be blind to Loki’s scemes. Always on his toes with him, the old man had been, yet always too blind to see anything.  
  
Alas, this time it was Odin that managed to surprise Loki.  
  
A shame, really.  
  
His plan had been so good!  
  
To masquerade as one of the Einherjar to gain Odin’s trust – ”We found a body, yada, yada, yada” – to take his throne for himself in way that even thinking about it made him smirk to his golden clad Einherjar hand, and to give Thor the homecoming of the century.  
  
Loki did not expect his magic to fail the minute he walked into the throne chamber and saw who was waiting for him there, saw who was standing by the All-father's side, two ruby red eyes glinting in the dim light, looking at him.  
  
”No”, he said, shaking his head, slowly from side to side. Maybe he was dead after all. Maybe this was his punishmen and not-  
  
He tried to get a hold of himself, to conjure up an armor, a weapon, something! But he couldn’t get a hold of his magic, no matter how hard he tried.  
  
For the first time in his life, he was absolutely not able to reach and grab the one thing that had always been his and his own and the jotunn king was smirking at him from across the room, teeth sharp and white and the deep rumble that then filled the chamber shook Loki to his very core.  
  
Laufey’s voice.  
  
”Well, hello there, little prince.”  
  
Loki hadn’t forgotten.  
  
_I killed you. By the norns, I killed you!_  
  
”Did you miss me?”  
  
_Why aren’t you dead?_  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> About peace and grievances. Loki's day keeps getting worse and worse.

  
Laufey was alive.  
  
And Loki... Loki was terrified.  
  
People didn't just come back from the dead. That just didn't happen. Death was neutral. Death was unbiased. Death was the one thing that people across the nine realms had in common, the one thing none of them could escape from - aside from the ageless ones, that is, but they were long gone.  
  
And Laufey was supposed to be dead.  
  
But then again, the same could be said about Loki, though he hadn't actually died. If anything, the Casket had only prevented his body from shutting down, giving him time to heal on his own. The Casket of Ancient Winters was the reason Loki was still alive and the Casket - or at least the power residing inside of it - was part of Jotunheim. It was entirely possible Laufey being alive right now had something to with Loki himself.  
  
But what?  
  
He didn't know. He didn't know and he was desperate for some to time to just _think_.  
  
”Well, isn’t this interesting”, Odin said, one-eyed glance dark and amused. ”Finally ran out of words, didn’t you, Loki? A rare sight to behold, indeed.”  
  
Loki didn’t care if he was riddiculed, he didn’t care if he was mocked. He barely even heard what the old man was saying because Laufey was looking at him and his eyes were as red as they’d been that day when they’d breached Jotunheim’s bordes for the first time. And he was looking at him again as if he already knew everything Loki was trying hide.  
  
It was, to say the least, unsettling.  
  
”The boy is small”, Laufey was saying to Odin, directing his attention at the older man now and Loki felt relieved. Like a snake having avoided the gliding shadow of an eagle. ”Smaller than your other one. Did you forget to provide him with food?”  
  
”He’s always been a picky eater. Even more so in the last couple of months spent in captivity. Before that… who knows what he’s been doing.” Odin caught Loki’s eyes again and grunted: ”Too busy running around causing chaos and distress.”  
  
”About that”, Loki said, shifting on his feet, resisting the urge to just run. Run and not look back. ”Thor is still out there trying to do something about Malekith. As lovely as this reunion is, Your Majesties”, a quick, nervous glance in Laufey’s direction was all he could manage, ”should we perhaps postpone it and go help him? My dear brother needs all the help he can get.”  
  
_And I need to get away from here._  
  
_I need to get away from here now!_  
  
”I’m sure your dear brother can do what he has to do just fine without your meddling assistance”, Odin said dryly. ”Assuming you haven’t killed him and his human... friend already, but I seriously doubt that. No, for once, I’m willing to believe you’re better than that.”  
  
There was some commotion on the other side of the doors that had been shut when Loki entered and one voice above all could be heard and actually recognized by Loki. Volstagg was demanding to be let in. Odin sighed and signaled the guards standing in attendance near the entrance to open the doors before the man came through them on his own.  
  
Now, ordinarily, Loki would have made some snarky comment about Odin not wanting to have to add the doors to the list of things needing to be fixed, but for once, he was gratefull for the havoc his brother’s oaf of a friend was causing and was silently praying for the man to make a scene upon entering that perhaps might give him the chance to escape the situation.  
  
If _Volstagg_ was there, the other two surely weren’t far behind.  
  
The three of them (and one absent-at-the-moment-Hogun) were generally nothing more than Thor’s sidekicks, but apparently they did have some sort of ability to act as their own unit without him around, too, if the situation so demanded. Loki had been surprised to learn about it before. The ungrateful bastards had no loyalty to anyone besides Thor. Norns, if it hadn’t made him seethe with anger back then.  
  
Now, though… now he could almost feel glad about it.  
  
”All-father!” Volstagg greeted as he hurriedly waltzed in. ”We need to speak with you!”  
  
The others, as predicted, entered close on his heels. Fandral was so close in fact, that he almost got beheaded when Volstagg saw who was standing besides Odin and made ready to defend himself with his axe. Or something of that kind. Loki doubted even _he_ was stupid enough to try and actually attack Laufey right there on the spot, not now when the jotunn’s presence was clearly accepted by the All-father himself.  
  
”What in the name of-” Volstagg turned to stare at Loki – which did not futher his plans to escape without anyone noticing anything, at all – and clapped a hand on his shoulder. ”I thought you killed him!”  
  
”Ah-hah…”  
  
”That’s Laufey, all right”, Fandral whispered to Sif, who, unlike her male companions, at least had the brains to keep her mouth shut.  
  
Volstagg wasn’t done yet, though, and Loki’s attempts to wiggle out from under his arm having failed there was nothing to do but wait and prepare for the unevitable; Volstagg making things even worse for Loki than they already were, that is.  
  
”The one good thing I’ve been praising you for, too”, the crazy fool was saying, shaking his shoulder. ”What in the name of the nine is even going on here?”  
  
If only eyes could kill… well, Loki’s would not have been the only pair trying to do the deed at that precise moment.  
  
”Would you care for an explanation?” Odin asked, immediately gathering the attentions of everyone in the room on himself. He was massaging the side of his face with his spear-free hand, studying the four of them with one weary eye. ”Or are you not yet done with this childish bickering?”  
  
”Forgive us, All-father”, Sif said and bowed her head, glaring daggers at Loki and Volstagg while at it. Her dark hair was all over the place and there was blood on her face and on her armor. Evidence of her battle with the asgardians themselves. ”We’re disrespecting the mercy you’ve shown us with our behavior. We are truly sorry.”  
  
”Mercy?” Odin stated coldly, making the woman flinch. ”And what should I have done otherwise, had I not been in the mood to show mercy?”  
  
To Sif’s credit it had to be said there wasn’t even a trace of hesitation in her answer. ”You should have imprisoned us”, she said. ”For we have betrayed your trust by helping Thor escape with Loki and the human woman. We have done wrong against Asgard and her people and against you, All-father.”  
  
Odin chuckled.  
  
”And where should I imprison you? Loki’s cell is the only one still intack and fulled with prisoners we managed to keep from escaping after the invasion. Yes, what a sight it would be to see you three there without your weapons and with no armor to speak of. Alas, you are more useful to me alive and defending Asgard than dead in the dungeons. But do not speak to me about mercy.”  
  
”I-I was mistaken”, Sif managed to choke out, voice trembling just the tiniest bit. Had she been anyone else - literally anyone else - Loki would have felt pity for her. ”Please, forgive me.”  
  
”You are forgiven. Now, before you state your business, there is something you need to be made aware of.” Odin stood up and Huginn and Muninn, the ravens Loki hadn’t even noticed hovering above, called out in unison.  
  
Loki heaved a shaky breath, not liking where this was going. Only once had he heard them like this before. That cursed day he’d been offered the Gungnir and his mother had declared him King of Asgard.  
  
_Make your father proud._  
  
She’d been so proud of him.  
  
_My King._  
  
After that there’d only been sorrow and grief.  
  
And disappointment.  
  
”I have re-declared peace with Jotunheim and it’s King”, Odin said, bowing his head for Laufey, who acknowledged his gesture by lowering his eyes for a fraction of a second, before returning his gaze upon the four of them again, upon Loki of all, like he was some pitiful little animal, only worth the jotunn king’s curious studying. ”What that peace entails is yet to be decided, but attacking against Jotunheim or its people is, from this day forward, forbidden. We are allies now. And we will help each other recover and prosper once again.”  
  
”But _how_ is he even-” Volstagg started to whisper but two hurried glares from his friends and Loki’s sharp elbow were enough to silence him.  
  
”Laufey lives”, Odin answered anyway. ”That’s all you need to know. Now, pay your respects.”  
  
It took some time, but finally Sif at least understood what was asked of them. She lowered herself on her knees and others quickly followed suit. Loki was the one to bow down last, very much aware of the irony of the situation so much alike the one he’d put the Warriors Three and Lady Sif through himself once.  
  
He had this creeping feeling things were only going to keep getting worse for him from this point forwards. Crawling on the floor under the stares of _both_ of his fathers as if there was nothing wrong with this picture at all. They had both wronged him more so than he had ever wronged them and yet he was the one who had to keep submitting!  
  
It wasn’t...  
  
What?  
  
Fair?  
  
No.  
  
_It’s not right._  
  
_It’s not right. It’s not right. It’s not right!_  
  
”You and your pompous, empty gestures, All-father” Laufey said. Despite the offensing nature of the words he sounded more amused than anything. ”Truly, you haven’t changed at all.”  
  
There was actual mirth in his voice now but Odin just shrugged. Laufey turned to look at them and continued: ”I have my conditions, of course. If this peace between our realms is truly something you’re willing to abide by, then you will give me what I want.”  
  
Again, he was speaking to all of them, but for some reason it still felt like his attentions lay mainly on Loki. Maybe the one condition was his life? Was that it? But why make such a big deal out of it with these three present? If it was his execution Laufey wanted, they’d be more than willing to hold him down for the axe rather than defend him and Odin knew that.  
  
”We’re not giving you Thor, if that’s what you’re after, Your Highness.”  
  
Suprisingly it was Fandral who spoke.  
  
Huh, Loki had been counting on Sif to take the lead.  
  
”You can keep your pale little prince”, Laufey said and nodded in Loki’s direction. ”I want _him._ ”  
  
Hearing the words spoken outloud was different than Loki had imagined. He was surrounded by people who wished for his death but somehow it seemed appropriate for Laufey to be the one to construct this wish into actual words. More fitting. What better way for a monster to die than in the hands of another monster?  
  
”I want Farbauti’s child to return to Jotunheim.”  
  
_No, wait_.  
  
”What happens to him there – whether he lives or dies – that’s up to me. ”  
  
_No, you can’t mean- that’s not what I-_  
  
”I understand you have some grievances with him?” Laufey said, sauntering closer. ”You are to lay them aside. Loki’s life is mine and unless I order otherwise, you shall not touch him or his as long as Jotunheim stands. Am I making myself clear?”  
  
The silence that followed could have been cut with a knife.  
  
Loki didn’t know why the others weren’t saying anything and to be honest, he didn’t find it in himself to really even care.  
  
He was going back to Jotunheim.  
  
Odin was washing his hands off him for good.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued.


End file.
